Staying up until four in the morning and functioning on only a handful of cry cereal and a can of Blue Ram seemed worth it until two in the afternoon.
Marathoning anime wasn't a new habit, but three days in a row, and it was taking its toll.

History was the worst, because the moment the teacher switched in, he wouldn't stop talking. His monotone voice would put anyone who was tired to sleep, and in fact his allotted time with your class always had the most drifters. It didn't help that he expected everyone to be at full attention and take notes.

Taking in a breath, fighting the urge to yawn, you forced your back upright against your chair and focus on the teacher. This was your last class of the day. Just make it through this.
Glancing around the classroom, you tried to gauge if anyone else was at risk of falling asleep, and a boy sitting in the front row

"Today we will be discussing the brutality of the Roman Empire and the implications behind their cruel and unusual methods of punishment."

Okay, cool. Blood and gore would be involved in this lesson—something exciting, for a change! This should help you stay awake.

"But first we must clarify that during this period, there was a strong political front being presented…"

Your eyelids were suddenly heavy.

"…the animals that they trained were often captured at a young age and brought over from other countries, such as the lions famous for—"

A student in the second row, who was wearing a scarf with his uniform, raised his hand highly and spoke before he was called on. "Sensei!" His voice startled you back to full attention; you hadn't even realized that your eyes had closed. "Did these tamers forge contracts with the associated demonic patrons of these animals?"

The teacher adjusted his glasses. "…No. No, they didn't. Now, as I was saying…there was a huge demand…"

You propped your head on the palm of your hand and made an effort to strain your eyes open and listen, but the teacher's words weren't registering.

How much longer?

The clock above the door read 2: 05 PM.

Only five minutes had passed? How?!

He turned his back to the class to draw a circle on the whiteboard for a diagram of some sort, and your vision fell into blackness.

…

Neck cramp!

You jolted awake, and immediately looked up as to make sure he hadn't noticed.

The teacher was still talking, writing on the board, and no one had noticed you were asleep.

Good, good.

Wiping at your eyes, you readjusted your seating again, ignoring that the heaviness had spread from your eyes to your entire head, and before you could put forth the mental energy to fight it, you were bobbing your head again, and this time you stayed in that comfortable and warm darkness until the symphony of chairs scooting across the floor simultaneously startled you back into consciousness.

"A word please!" The teacher called your name and signaled for you to come to the podium. "Hinata Hajime, you too!"

Oh, no.

Did he catch you? Wait, no, not if he called up Hinata, too. Hinata was one of the star students from the reserve course and he never fell asleep. So you had to be safe! He was on cleaning duty, so maybe your help was needed with taking out the trash or sweeping the classroom? Sometimes an extra hand was needed.

The two of you nervously went to the podium. The stern and angry expression plastered on the teacher's face quickly eliminated any hope that you weren't in trouble.

"I'm going to be honest," the teacher cleared his throat, looking to you specifically. "You're about to fail. Your essay answers are vague and, forgive my French, half-assed, like you're hoping that you're vague enough to be right, and it's obvious that you're not resting enough. I don't know what's going on, but you've got to stop sleeping in class! Or at least my class. Hinata-kun, if you would, please help your classmate brush up on chapters seven and eight of the textbook. I'm going to let them retake the test this Friday."

An anchor set in your stomach, and suddenly you were embarrassed, because it wasn't like you knew Hinata exceptionally well. He sat a few seats up from you and didn't say much, didn't talk to anyone…you'd seen him in the library a few times, too, studying, and actually looking happy while doing it, which was weird. But he didn't seem to have any friends.

Before you had time to argue or insist that you'd be fine studying on your own, the teacher closed up his planner, nodded at you both, and took his leave.

Hinata looked down at you (was he always this tall?) and tried to smile.

"S-So…" He cleared his throat. "Whenever you're free."

"I'm not doing anything right now." You rubbed your arm awkwardly. "Uh, unless you've got a club or something?"

"I don't."

"Where would you like to study?" Well, he seemed friendly enough.

"Wherever is fine." He was the one having to go out of his way, after all.

The reserve course students really were treated differently, if Hinata's room was any testament.

The beds looked smaller, and the windows didn't have that same golden trim or a screen behind the glass. It made sense, kind of, since there were more rooms squeezed into these dorms, but it didn't seem very fair, especially if these students had to actually pay to attend Hope's Peak…but that wasn't any of your business, and it'd be rude to point it out.

The desk was half the size of your own, which meant sitting really close together. Close enough to hear him breathing, which made you feel self-conscious because what if he could hear you breathing, too?

Wait…it was just breathing. You had to breathe. Nothing unusual. Just awkward.

Maybe your room would've been better, even if it was a longer walk, but it was too late now and if Hinata was blissfully unaware of the vast difference in housing conditions for reserve students, you weren't going to show him firsthand that he wasn't getting his money's worth here.

He flipped the thick history textbook open. "Alright, let's see…chapter seven. Oh, right, the mythological figures of Rome and the legend of its founding. So, what were you mostly having trouble with?"

"Well…uh…"

You reached into your bag and popped open he can of Blue Ram you'd bought from a vending machine on the way here (another thing! Why did the machines in this dormitory cost twice as much?!) and took a drink, hoping that the sound of your swallowing wasn't too loud because he was close enough that his arm brushed against yours when he turned the page.

"…Everything."

"Everything?" Hinata repeated, blinking at you. "Seriously? But…aren't you the Ultimate—"

"Yeah, yeah, but I suck at studying..." You admitted, feeling ashamed of yourself, trying to concentrate on not running your words together. "And Sensei puts me to sleep with his voice. Look at how small the text is, too! So when he says, 'oh it's just three pages' that's like…six—no, ten!—pages of a regular book. We never get to watch videos when he's teaching! It's all reading and taking notes. I can't help it that I stay up all night, I'm just nocturnal, okay?"

You downed the rest of the energy drink, stopping your tangent, and after a few seconds of silence, Hinata laughed.

It was the first time you'd seen him smiling, and it was a nice laugh; it didn't sound like he was mocking you, so you couldn't help smiling back at him. "What?"

"Nothing, it's just, in class you're so quiet, and I thought you took your school more seriously!"

"I do, just…just not classes that are so boring. Um, Hinata-kun, I don't know how you do it. Every time I see you, you look like you're working so hard. The truth is, um, I really admire that…no matter what anyone says to you, or anyone in the reserve course, you guys work ten times harder than us!"

It was true. Now that you'd seen that Hinata was not only a hard studier, but a nice person, you couldn't help admiring him.

"Well," He shyly shrugged, a blush tinting his cheeks. "I gotta try my hardest, you know? There's a program opening for us reserve course students soon, but it's going to be limited, so I want to make sure I secure a spot there."

"Really? What kind of program?"

He scratched the side of his had with the top of his pen. "I'm not sure I should say anything, actually…it's supposed to be something for developing talent, that's all I know about it, anyway!"

This was your first time hearing about it, but that sounded like something Hinata should more than qualify for! If the reserve students worked ten times harder than you that were scouted, then Hinata worked ten times harder than the rest of them, which meant that he put forth twenty times the effort that you did. Whatever it was, Hinata definitely deserved it more than anyone you knew!

"I'm sure that you'll get in, Hinata-kun."

"Thanks." He was blushing even harder now, and quickly turned back to the textbook. "We should probably start going over this…"

"Oh, yeah!"

"Don't fall asleep on me!" He teased, and you rolled your eyes.

"I won't, I won't!"

Hinata had definitely made the lesson bearable, and halfway through his tutoring you realized that wow, he smelled really nice (did he wear cologne?), and his smile was infectious.
He was a lot easier to pay attention to than the teacher, probably because he was kinda cute and there was a patience in his voice that eased the pressure of potentially failing the course.
Not that the teacher would really fail you. He'd let you off with a D, at the very least, like all the staff did for the Ultimates.

Behind that serious demeanor and all those cram sessions he put himself through, Hinata was also kinda…lonely, maybe?
Not that you were the most social in your circle, but Hinata didn't even seem to have a circle even among the other reserve students.

Even though it wasn't his grade on the line, he insisted that you let the contents from chapter seven settle into your brain and you agreed to tackle chapter eight the next day.

So he took not only one afternoon to help you with your work, but two, and for the second you fasted from anime for the day to avoid the temptation of pulling another marathon session. It was the respectful thing to do.

And it paid off!

Two days later, you retook the tests after school and not only passed, but aced them!

You couldn't help feeling proud of yourself, but more than that you were grateful to Hinata for going above and beyond what had been asked of him. It wasn't like he could've said no, even if he had wanted to, but he'd really taken the time to help you and he'd been so sweet about it.

He deserved a thanks!

You thought about getting him a little something from the school store, but that seemed kinda…pushy, especially considering that you still didn't know him super well. But you wanted to get to know him more!

So after leaving the study hall, makeup test in hand with an A+ stamped onto it in red ink, you made your way over to the reserve dorms and knocked on his door. If he wasn't here, he'd probably be in the library, as always, and you were fully prepared to make that journey.

After a few seconds, he opened the door, looking rather tired, and greeted you a small wave. "Oh, hey!"

"Hinata-kun, look!" You presented the test to him and beamed. "I passed, thanks to you!"

He looked over the paper and smiled, flipping it to the backside and examining for himself. "That's great! You didn't half-ass the essay this time."

You laughed a little as he handed it back to you. "Thank you for helping me."

"It's no problem! Hey, uh, any time you need help with anything, just let me know. We're classmates, after all, gotta look out for each other." He was blushing again, and seeing that cute expression on his face pushed away your apprehension long enough to ask.

"Hinata-kun, I'd like to thank you properly. Let's get dinner together some time!"

"Eh? I-I couldn't let you do that…"

"Or coffee?"

"Well…" He pretended to think about it. "Okay, if you insist!"

Was it a date? Yes, this was definitely going to be a date.

"Whenever you're free!" You folded the test and slid it into your bag, then clasped your hands together excitedly. "I know I probably put you behind on your studies, sorry about that, so no rush or anything!"

"Hmm…" He really was contemplating now. "It'll probably have to wait a couple of weeks, actually. I got accepted into the program I mentioned to you."

"Oh? Hinata-kun, that's great! Congratulations!"

This had been a good week for both of you, then, and an invigorating, positive, hopeful feeling seized your heart.

"Thanks!" He was certainly in high spirits, despite the dark circles under his eyes. "They said I'd be in the research facility on the third island for a ten days starting tomorrow, though. For the program. I still don't know all the details, but I'm excited! Soon as I'm back, I'll take you up on that coffee."

You nodded excitedly, adjusting the strap on your bag and trying not to show just how excited you were for this. "I'm really looking forward to it, Hinata-kun! I'll leave you to whatever studying you have left then! You got this!"

"I'll see you as soon as I'm back!"

He sounded really, really happy despite all the hesitation at first.

You waved goodbye to each other and started off, deciding that you'd grab a coffee for yourself now and tackle chapter nine on your own. It'd be hard to study on your own now, thinking about your date, thinking about Hinata…

It was only ten days, but you could hardly wait!